Near the beginning of the documentary Hockey 24, we meet a Toronto minor-league hockey coach who will be familiar to longtime NHL hockey fans, particularly in Montreal and Toronto.

“My name’s Darcy Tucker,” he says in the film, which premieres on Sportsnet on Sunday night. “I played 16 years of professional hockey, 15 in the National Hockey League. And I’m now coaching the Toronto Titans bantam AAA team. There’s a lot of balls in the air when it comes to being a dad and a coach. But it’s also one of the most rewarding things you can do as a father.”

Tucker is best known as a former Toronto Maple Leaf, having played with the team from 1999 to 2008, but he began his career with the Montreal Canadiens, drafted 151st overall by the Habs in the 1993 entry draft. He was traded by Montreal to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1998 and after three years in Tampa, was shipped to T.O. After his run with the Leafs, he ended his career with the Colorado Avalanche.

Toronto Maple Leafs’ Darcy Tucker goes after Canadiens’ Alex Kovalev after Kovalev elbowed him in the third period of game in Montreal in 2006.John Mahoney /
Montreal Gazette files

In the film, his son Cain, 14, talks about being coached by his dad.

“My dad being my coach strengthens the bond, us being together all the time … coach Darcy is hard on the bench and I know he’s probably right. But when we get home, he just forgets about it. It doesn’t matter what happened in the game. As soon as we get in the car, coach Darcy switches to dad Darcy.”

That’s just one of many touching moments in this 90-minute ode to the game of hockey and what it means to families all across Canada. The film is presented by Scotiabank, a major sponsor of hockey in Canada, and was produced by the Toronto-based creative agency The Mark. The executive producer is Hayes Steinberg, chief creative officer at The Mark.

Scotiabank and The Mark asked Canadians last fall to send in home videos and photos showing their love of hockey, and the film includes scenes of kids hockey across the country, with plenty of footage of the early-morning ritual of parents and kids getting up to make the trek to the rink.

On the phone from his home in Toronto on Friday afternoon, Tucker talked about what it’s like to coach as a dad.

“I think it’s good to have coach Darcy and dad Darcy,” said Tucker. “We have a really good relationship that way … it’s a pretty good dynamic that we have between the two of us. I don’t think you want to make any of the other players feel uncomfortable and as your child moves along in hockey, I’m not always going to be his coach so he’s going to have to take different coaches and deal with them and deal with different situations. I just want him to understand that I’m not dad on the bench. I’m a coach. He gets it.”

Hockey 24 arrives at a good time given that so many Canadians are starved for hockey following the shutdown of the National Hockey League and all minor-league hockey as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tucker feels it’s a great moment to broadcast a film about our ties to the game.

“People across Canada love the great game of hockey, but there are lots of great life lessons that come along with that,” said Tucker.

Tucker said he has fond memories of starting his NHL career as a Canadien.

“Montreal has an amazing tradition of hockey, well-known not just in Quebec but across Canada,” he said. “There are so many Montreal Canadiens fans. I remember my first trip out west with the Canadiens and how many Canadiens jerseys were in the stands. It’s a tradition that is generational. If your dad was a Montreal fan, you seem to be a Montreal fan as a child. There’s a tradition that follows through generations and it was a very fun time in my career to be part of the Montreal Canadiens.”

Hockey 24 airs on Sportsnet at 7 p.m. and again at 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. It will also be available on the website of the Toronto documentary film festival Hot Docs (hotdocs.ca) from May 25 to June 30.

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